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Sunday, 31 July 2011

Wild West eMonday - David Whitehead

Born on the wild frontier of East London, David Whitehead
always wanted to write. As a child his father would pass on his old
western books and also record stories he'd invented himself onto a tape
for his young son to listen to.

And now that boy has become a
man but that boyhood love of storytelling, and specifically westerns is
still with him. To date he has penned almost fifty westerns under a
handful of names as well as venturing from time to time into other
genres. And now David is making many of his backlist titles available
electronically which should excite any western fan. Just goes to show
what we've been saying around here for ages now - if you're a western
fan there's never been a better time to get a Kindle, Sony, Nook or
other eReader.

David has used many names over the course of his
career - Ben Bridges, Carter West to name but two of a wild bunch - but
what's in a name? Is there any difference between a David Whitehead
and a Ben Bridges for instance?

"Yes,
there are subtle differences between the styles I use for the
different pseudonyms.", David told the Archive. "Ben Bridges, for
example, was always a tougher style with action as the main driving
force, whereas my westerns as Glenn Lockwood (which have yet to appear
in ebook format) were far more character-driven. Overall, however, I
would say there are more similarities than differences. I hope always
to tell a good, original story the old-fashioned way, with a beginning,
a middle and an end."

"We need to be at the top of our game so that we can produce original westerns aimed at a more modern market." David Whitehead

The
new electronic editions are sporting stunning new artwork, with a
uniform look. The Archive liked the design, told David so and then
wondered who the artist was.David smiles, "Many
thanks for your kind words regarding the covers," he said. " I like
them, too! I buy the illustrations from various agencies and then
design the cover text around them. I think it's important to have a
recognisable 'house style'. I don't use photographic covers, for
example, always illustrations. The text is always bright and
eye-catching."

Eye catching indeed and the cover images evoke memories of the golden days of the westerns.

"I
suppose I've been influenced by the good old days of Richard
Clifton-Dey," David continued. "And Tony Masero and David McAllister.
Anything I can do to recreate that feel of the old Piccadilly Cowboy
days is all to the good."

"I
was born wanting to write. And since my Dad took me to see all the
western movies that were still being made during my childhood (the
1960s) and we were forever watching westerns on TV, and since he used to
make up western stories for me and then read them into a reel-to-reel
tape recorder so that I could listen to them while he was working
evening shifts as a security man, the western seemed a natural genre for
me." David Whitehead.

Bringing
these modern western classics back into print via the digital medium
must have presented more than a few problems. I have bought several
eBooks over recent months in which the formatting is abysmal, with text
running across the page as if set by an epileptic on cocaine, and yet
the formatting in these editions is spot on. How much of a challenge was
this?

"It
was difficult to format the books for Kindle, David admits. "But only
at the outset. It was very much a case of the blind leading the blind.
But I had the great good fortune to have a wonderful friend in the
shape of Malcolm Elliott-Davey, who writes westerns as Cody Wells and
whose first BHW, SIX WAYS OF DYIN', is now awaiting publication. He
educated me as to the right way to do this thing, and I will always be
grateful to him for that."

And
western fans should also be grateful to Malcolm Davey AKA Cody Wells
because the books are now out there. There are some great titles in
David's backlist and western fans should give one of these books a try,
but prepare to dig deep and buy the rest. David's writing, like that of
all great western writers, has an addictive quality. The books he wrote
with Steve Hayes for instance are among the best I've read in many
years.

"I always wanted to bring my old books back into print." David said."If there was no such thing as Kindle I would have started issuing them in paperback via a site like www.lulu.com.
I would have probably issued them as uniform sets, say with blue
spines for the O'Briens, yellow spines for The Wilde Boys, grey spines
for the Judge and Durys etc., so that when you had the lot they would
look really beautiful set out on your shelf. But that would have been
an expensive proposition for the reader, especially when you think that
we're talking about seventy books here. Kindle enables the reader to
buy the book at a bargain price and receive it instantly as a download.
It's more convenient all round."

What
is also convenient is that using the Amazon store readers can download a
sample of each book and then after reading you can decide to buy the
book. They're all priced reasonably, cheaper than a new paperback. So
come on - readers who want to head West best take a short detour up the
Amazon.

2 comments:

Totally unfair! The Wilde Boys is not available on Kindle outside the US. Where do I register my complaint? All the westerns in the world out as e-books should be available anywhere there is an internet connection. I want my money back . . . Oh, haven't paid yet. Any way, terribly upset.

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GARY DOBBS/JACK MARTIN

Actor and novelist. As an actor I have appeared in Doctor Who, Torchwood, Gavin and Stacey, Moonmonkeys, Larkrise to Candleford, The Reverend, The Risen.
As a writer I write westerns for the Black Horse Western imprint using the name Jack Martin. Under my own name I am responsible for several novels including the popular Granny Smith series. And using the name Vincent Stark I have written some pretty disturbing stuff.

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